


Accept Me for Who I Am

by captainbluebell137



Series: The Fitzpatrick twins series [1]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Mild Language, Multi, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Trauma, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28760898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainbluebell137/pseuds/captainbluebell137
Summary: Maddie has faced bullying and humiliation since her first year at Hogwarts, despite being a very friendly and brilliantly talented witch. Additionally, traumatic events leave her scarred and haunted by her past. Can a certain quiet Slytherin boy help break down the wall she's built around her heart ?
Relationships: Caspian/Susan Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: The Fitzpatrick twins series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136426
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Before diving into the story, I just wanted to point out that the main character's name was indeed inspired by Maddie Fitzpatrick from Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I just really really liked the name and wanted to use it, and I didn't even plan on posting this story originally (although I did change one letter in her first name). The character in my story, however, wasn't meant to look like Maddie from SLZC.  
> That being said, I do NOT own the character Maddie Fitzpatrick from SLZC (or any other Suite Life character!) As I said, the name was just an inspiration. I also do not own any of the canon HP and Narnia characters, all credit goes to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis for that. I only own all the non-canon characters of the story.  
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!!

“Finally! Where have you  _ been _ ?” my twin sister Camille said to me as I rushed up to the Hufflepuff table, panting hard. “We were beginning to think you’d accidentally fallen in the toilet!” 

I took a seat beside her, across from our two best friends Lydia Starlight and Saoirse McCahill-Lawson. The three of them stared at me in amusement with quirked eyebrows as I took a minute to catch my breath. 

“I… I was…” I huffed. “I was hit by a Melofors jinx on my way back from the bathroom. I don’t think it was intentional, although all the laughing and pointing and lack of help would certainly make you think otherwise.” I rolled my eyes in annoyance at that. 

“A Melofors jinx?” snorted my friends before erupting into crazed laughter. I glared hard at them. 

“Hey! It’s not funny!” I complained. “Hagrid had to pry the pumpkin off my head! He lifted me off the floor a bunch of times, too, as he did it.”

“Why didn’t you just go to the Hospital Wing?” Lydia asked.

“Okay,  _ you _ try walking around with a gorilla-sized pumpkin for a head and tell me how that works out for you,” I snapped back while stabbing at the lunch I’d just filled my plate with. 

“Hey. Take it easy, Maddie,” said Camille while patting my back. “Are you okay now, though?” I muttered that I was fine and we continued eating our lunch while Camille, Saoirse, and Lydia talked about the latest gossip featured in Witch Weekly. I managed to zone out almost immediately since such topics always bore me to death. I mean, who cares about who won Best Dressed or Most Stunning Eyes of the year? That article’s sole purpose was to degrade women for their appearance. Why would  _ anyone _ want to support that? 

As I finished my last bite of food, I suddenly felt something ice-cold washing over my head. I gasped loudly in shock and sputtered as cool, sweet smelling liquid dripped down my face and onto the front of my robes. Camille, Lydia, and Saoirse - who all had previously had their heads lowered and hadn’t seen a thing - glanced up in alarm and I heard mean laughter coming from behind me. I whipped around and saw one Ravenclaw and two Slytherin boys cackling loudly while pointing at me. One of the Slytherins held an empty glass cup in his hand. 

“What’s the matter,  _ pumpkinhead _ ?” mocked the Slytherin holding the cup. “Afraid of a little pumpkin juice? We thought it’d be just the right touch to complete your costume from earlier.” Rage boiled up inside me in that instant but at the same time, I was also still completely baffled by what had just happened. 

“You insufferable idiots! How dare you!” I heard Camille shriek from beside me before drawing her wand. A second later, a bright flash went off and all three boys yelped in surprise as adult-sized bats began shooting out of their noses. 

“Help! Stop it!” they yelled while thrashing around like fish out of water. Camille had cast the Bat-Bogey Hex on them. 

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” a shrill voice called out. We turned our heads to the right in time to see Professor McGonagall rushing up to us, her face white with anger. She rapidly cast the counter-curse on the screaming boys before helping them up off the floor. 

“Argus, please take these boys to see Madam Pomfrey,” McGonagall called to Filch the caretaker, who had just arrived at the scene. The boys moaned as they rubbed their noses and temples. 

“This is why people like  _ you _ don’t belong here!” spat the Slytherin boy who had taunted me. “You’re  _ deranged _ ! You’re completely  _ mental _ !” 

“That’s  _ enough _ , Mr. Hoager,” McGonagall sternly said to him before he and his companions were taken away by Filch. The three boys glared daggers at us the whole time until they were out of the Great Hall. 

“You people” had referred to Camille and I, who were Muggle-borns originally from America. We’d moved to England only six months before receiving our Hogwarts letters. 

Of course, being Muggle-born, we’d had no idea of the existence of the Wizarding World beforehand, so it had been a real shock to us and our parents when we learned that Camille and I were witches. Most students at Hogwarts were very friendly towards us, but we’d also faced some taunting due to our American accents and Muggle-born status throughout the years. And - based on the events that had just occurred - it looked like the taunting wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. 

After Filch disappeared with the boys, Professor McGonagall whirled on Camille, absolutely livid. 

“Miss Fitzpatrick! Explain yourself!” Her voice shook with rage as poor Camille stuttered for a while trying to find a response. The entire Great Hall was silent and staring at us now, which made my cheeks flare up in embarrassment. Not that anyone could tell, from all the pumpkin juice that was now sticking to my face. 

“I want to see you in the Headmaster’s office  _ immediately _ , Miss Fitzpatrick,” McGonagall was saying between clenched teeth. “And  _ you _ , Miss Fitzpatrick.” She was talking to me now. I gulped as I braved a look at her. 

“Get yourself cleaned up before your next lesson. Go now.” I pushed myself out of my seat and fast-walked out of the Great Hall, refusing to look at anyone and straining myself not to burst into tears on the spot. The pumpkin juice had dried almost completely, plastering my hair to my head, staining my school robes, and making my hands and face all sticky. I could barely see out of my glasses, which were now filled with orange spots, and the sunflower I wore on my light-brown side ponytail was ruined. 

Immediately after rounding the corner, I collided with someone who’d been walking in the opposite direction from me. 

“Ow! Sorry! Sorry, I - ” I froze when I saw who it was.

I’d seen him around before. He was in the same year as me, I knew because I’d seen him in a few of my classes in the past. His dark brown eyes stared directly into my blue ones, while his pale face bore a look of total confusion. He was a Slytherin student, but he’d never said anything mean to me before. In fact, I didn’t recall him ever saying anything to  _ anyone _ before. He was pretty quiet, mostly keeping to himself, although not unfriendly. At least, he didn’t  _ seem _ unfriendly. 

“Uh, I’m sorry. Sorry,” I muttered quickly before turning my gaze away and resuming my fast walking pace towards the nearest girls’ lavatory. 

_ This is the WORST day of my life. _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N (again): I know this chapter was super short lol but the next few are much longer and start to develop the story more, I promise.  
> Also this is my first story ever published, so please review!! Let me know what you think of the story and tysm for reading !


	2. Chapter 2

I sulked out of the bathroom after I’d managed to clean myself off as best as I could and quickly headed towards the dungeons. I had Potions next and I couldn’t begin to imagine the hell I’d be in if Snape caught me walking in late. Fortunately, I arrived at the same time as the last few students and made my way to the back where Saoirse and Lydia were sitting. “Wow, you look really miserable, Maddie,” said Lydia as I took my regular seat in front of them. “We wanted to come help you but McGonagall told us to clean up the mess that had been left by the juice. We did bring your stuff, though.” 

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it,” I told her sincerely. “And thanks.”

“Are you alright?” 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I got most of the juice off, although I still smell like pumpkin and sugar. Emphasis on the pumpkin since I’ve had double the encounter with it. I also  _ really _ need to wash my hair.” No matter how hard I tried, I hadn’t fully been able to get the juice out of my hair, so it was still tangled and sticky. I kept it in the side ponytail it was in earlier hoping it’d be less noticeable. 

“Where’s Camille?” I inquired. 

“Still in Dumbledore’s office. We suspect she might be there for a while,” replied Saoirse with a cringe. “But look on the bright side. At least those rotten gits aren’t here either.” I scanned the classroom and, sure enough, I didn’t see the two Slytherin boys from earlier anywhere. We only had Potions with the Slytherins, but I assumed the Ravenclaw boy must still be in the Hospital Wing along with them. Serves them right. 

The girls and I chatted for a couple minutes more before Snape called for attention. 

“Today, you will be brewing Pepperup Potion,” he droned monotonously. “You will each be put into partners...” The class broke out into excited murmurs at that.

“...which  _ I _ will assign.” The murmurs stopped abruptly and were followed by loud groans. 

As Snape began assigning partners, I bounced my leg anxiously. I dreaded random pairings because I was almost always stuck with people who let me do all the work. I watched as Lydia and Saoirse were paired with random Hufflepuff and Slytherin students, respectively, and sorrowfully waved them goodbye. 

“...And lastly, Miss Fitzpatrick,” Snape said and I snapped my head towards him in attention. 

“You will be paired with Mr. Pevensie.” 

I had no idea who that was, although the name sounded strangely familiar to me. Snape pointed at someone and I saw the guy I’d run into earlier staring at me and holding his hand up in a small wave. I stared back for a few seconds before gathering my stuff and moving over to where he was sitting. 

“Hi,” I squeaked upon reaching his table. I suddenly felt very flustered, although I didn’t know why. Probably because I’d stampeded into him like a drunken rhinoceros earlier. Definitely not awkward at all. 

He nodded at me in return and I proceeded to open up my textbook to the page that held the instructions for the Pepperup potion. 

“We can use my cauldron,” the boy said from beside me. I started a bit at that since I’d never heard him speak before and I hadn’t really expected him to talk much with a complete stranger. But he didn’t speak in an unfriendly manner, rather his voice was pretty casual. 

“Um, okay, sounds good,” I replied. “I’ll go and get the ingredients.” I also let out a huge breath of relief that our unfortunate interaction from earlier didn’t seem to have made things awkward (for now, at least) between us. I was still terribly mortified by that. 

When I returned with the ingredients, the both of us bent over my textbook in order to read the instructions. 

“We first need to crush the main ingredients and stir them all together counterclockwise for fifteen minutes,” I said aloud. 

“I can help you with that,” my partner said right after. I was  _ way _ too embarrassed to ask what his first name was, but I also didn’t want to call him “Mr. Pevensie”. So, I guess I’ll just have to opt for “hey” and “um/uh” when talking to him. I mean, it’ll likely be his case too, with me, so whatever. 

“I can also do the stirring afterwards. It says that we need to add the bicorn horn and the Mandrake root after the fifteen minutes. It’ll take a while to break those up into pieces, so can you do that while I stir?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

I blinked twice. I’m not gonna lie, I was pleasantly surprised at the planning we’d just made. As I said, usually I was the one that had to do everything in group projects but it seemed as though that wouldn’t be the case this time. I was  _ very _ thankful. 

And so we got to work, both of us crushing up the required ingredients before dumping them into my partner’s cauldron. Whilst he was stirring, I got started on splitting apart the bicorn horn and the Mandrake root, which, as my partner had predicted, was quite difficult to do. At one point, I glanced over at Lydia, who stood at a table near the front of the classroom. She caught my eye and waved at me, smiling. I reciprocated her actions before turning my attention back to my work when Snape glared at us. 

“Do you need help with those?” my partner asked me, eyeing the horn and the root. 

“It’s alright, I’m almost done,” I told him. “But thanks.” 

Fifteen minutes finished passing just as I broke apart the last pieces of bicorn horn and carefully added them to the mixture. 

“Do you… want me to take over?” I hesitantly asked, referring to the stirring. 

“You can if you want, yeah,” he casually said. “I’ll get started on cleaning up, then.” I nodded at him and we switched places. Most of the other students began finishing up as well, although, judging by their looks, it unfortunately seemed as though their potions hadn’t been very successful. 

Normally, this led to one thing: mass humiliation from Snape. And I’d had my fair share of humiliations today, so I prayed nervously that our potion was going to turn out. 

I could hear Snape’s disapproving comments as he walked from table to table, my anxiety bubbling up inside me as his voice neared. I tried hard to stay focused on the potion as Snape finally arrived at our table. 

“Looks… a tad more appealing than what I’ve previously seen,” he commented slowly while scrutinizing our potion, clearly trying to find something -  _ anything _ \- wrong with it. Our potion had - dears thanks to whoever heard my desperate prayers - turned red like it was supposed to, so I assumed we’d been successful. 

“Take a sip, Fitzpatrick,” Snape commanded me, and I (dejectedly) obliged. I poured a miniscule amount of the potion into a vial and drank it. 

As soon as I swallowed it, my eyes bulged wide and a coughing fit overtook me as massive clouds of steam puffed out of my ears. Snape muttered the counter-curse and I stood gasping and sneezing for a bit as he curtly told my partner and I to bottle up our potion and place it at his desk before walking away. 

“Are you alright?” came a voice from beside me. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I coughed, looking up to meet my partner’s concerned eyes. I gave one last sneeze and shook my head. “Although, I think I’d rather just stick to tea and ginger when I get sick.” He chuckled lightly at my joke and I helped him gather up the last of the mess. The bell sounded soon after and I picked up all my things and stuffed them into my backpack. 

“Bye,” I timidly said to my partner and he silently waved at me with a small smile before exiting the classroom. I found my gaze unwillingly following him as he walked out, taking in the shape of his raven-coloured locks…

_ What the hell?!?!?! _

I mentally slapped myself, feeling massively confused. 

Okay, so he has dark-coloured hair…  _ so what?? _ Like there aren’t  _ hundreds _ of other students with dark hair in this school. 

_ Get a grip, Maddie _ , I scolded myself before catching up with Lydia and Saoirse and scurrying out of Potions. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

“Beth!” I cried as I zoomed past another player, cutting them off. The redheaded girl I’d called out to whipped her head towards me as I threw the Quaffle at her in an arc. It was Quidditch game day today, and the Hufflepuffs were versing Gryffindor. 

I was a Chaser on the Hufflepuff team and have been since my second year. Although I hadn’t even known of the existence of Quidditch until my first year at Hogwarts, I knew the moment I’d seen my very first match that I needed to learn how to play and try out for the team the following year. 

And I’ve been absolutely loving it ever since.

Beth caught the Quaffle with ease and dove under a Gryffindor Chaser before sending the Quaffle sailing past the Keeper through one of the goals. 

“A pass to Annabeth Montgomery leads her to score!” yelled the Quidditch commentator Lee Jordan as deafening applause broke out through the crowd. “Ten points to Hufflepuff!” 

“Alright, Beth!” whooped our third Chaser, Richie Kettleburn, as he high-fived Beth when the two flew past each other. 

“That’s brilliant!” shouted our team captain Jake Michaels, a seventh-year Beater. “We’re forty points ahead! If Heather catches the Snitch soon, victory is ours!” Heather Fairmist, our Seeker, gave a thumbs up and a nod from further up ahead, indicating she had heard him clearly. 

However, to everyone’s bewilderment, the match didn’t continue just yet.

I spotted the Gryffindors all flying down to Madam Hooch, having seemingly called a timeout. I exchanged confused glances with Richie Kettleburn.  _ What was happening? _

“What’s going on?” Jake echoed my thoughts. Just then, Madam Hooch’s sharp whistle cut through the air and she waved her arm at our team to come down. 

As our feet touched the ground, Madam Hooch walked over to our team followed by an angry-looking Gryffindor player. 

“Mr. Michaels,” Madam Hooch curtly said to Jake. “It seems as though there has been an accusation made against your team.” 

“It was  _ her _ , Madam Hooch!” the Gryffindor snapped and jabbed an accusing finger at me. I stared at him, puzzled. 

“Huh? What are you talking about? What did I do?” I glanced at Madam Hooch and the Gryffindor player continued.

“She tried to Blatch me, Madam Hooch! I know she did!” 

Blatching was a foul in Quidditch, when a player tries to purposefully crash into another player. I realized then that this was the player I’d cut off when I passed the Quaffle to Beth. “She saw that I was after the Quaffle and deliberately flew right in front of me! A few more millimeters and she’d have collided with the front of my broom!” 

“ _ What?! _ ” I yelled, outraged. “Madam Hooch, that’s not true! I was just trying to pass the Quaffle, I didn’t mean to fly so close to him!” 

“Madam Hooch, I don’t at all believe that Maddie had any intention of fouling anyone,” Jake defended. “She would never do such a thing.”

“Well, she did!” screeched the player, his eyes bulging. “We demand a penalty shot!” 

“That’s  _ enough _ , Mr. Fisher,” growled Madam Hooch. “Miss Fitzpatrick never  _ physically _ came into contact with you, now did she?”

“She was  _ going _ to.” The player named Fisher glared hard at me. 

“But she  _ didn’t _ . And if Mr. Michaels says that nothing was intentional, I’m willing to believe it. No penalty shots and Hufflepuff keeps their point. Back to the game.” She blew her whistle again before anybody could protest and walked off. 

Fisher - as well as the rest of the Gryffindor team - gave me one last threatening glare before mounting their brooms and kicking off the ground. Our team did the same, my cheeks still flushed with anger. 

The match went on for another hour or so, with the Gryffindor team becoming more and more aggressive by the minute, no doubt as revenge that our team didn’t get penalized for “Blatching”. Soon, another whistle sounded, this time signalling the end of the match. The crowd exploded and I turned my head in time to hear Lee shouting, “Heather Fairmist of Hufflepuff has caught the Snitch! 150 points go to Hufflepuff as they win the match!” Our team flew down to the ground and we all practically piled on top of Heather, screaming with joy. 

We headed to our changing room, sweaty and panting but too ecstatic about our win to care. We almost made it in when we heard someone approaching us. 

“My son!” chirped a cheerful voice from behind us, and we all turned around to see Professor Kettleburn - the Care of Magical Creatures teacher and Richie’s father - walking towards Richie with his arms outstretched. Richie, who bore a horrified look on his face, backed up in an attempt to shield himself but to no avail. Professor Kettleburn enveloped Richie in a bear-crushing hug and the rest of us put our hands against our mouths to keep from laughing. 

_ Poor Richie, _ Beth mouthed over to me and I nodded back at her, highly struggling to bite back laughter. 

“ _ Dad! _ ” we heard Richie complain in a muffled voice before wrestling out of his father’s grip. 

“I’m so proud of you!” gushed Professor Kettleburn. “And of all the rest of you as well, of course, well done!” he added to the rest of us before walking off to let us enter our changing room. Of course, once inside, we all burst out laughing. 

“Oh, shove off,” Richie told us with a wave of his hand. 

“You know, Richie,” I said teasingly, “I still don’t understand how come you didn’t choose Care of Magical Creatures as an elective. Your father really is an incredibly fun teacher.” Richie whirled around and stared at me as though I’d sprouted three heads. 

“Are you  _ mental _ ?! Can you imagine how  _ embarrassing _ it would be to have your father as your teacher?” he cried. “No, thank you. If he does what he did just now, could you imagine what he’d do if I was in his class? My younger brother Preston and I both vowed to never put ourselves through that torture. Plus, I much rather prefer Quidditch than magical creatures.” The rest of us laughed as we finished privately getting changed.

We were just exiting the change room when someone jogged up to us. It was Peter, the Keeper and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. 

“I don’t mean to intrude, but I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second?” He gestured to me. He didn’t seem accusing but nonetheless, Jake walked right up to him and crossed his arms. 

“Whatever you’ve got to say to Maddie, you can say in front of all of us.” He scowled menacingly at Peter and I saw the rest of my teammates putting on similar facial expressions. 

“Look, I’m not here to start a fight. I just wanted to apologize for my teammate’s behaviour. I didn’t think you intended to Blatch him at all, honest.” I quirked my eyebrow. Peter’s apology seemed sincere, and I guess the fact that he took the time to approach us while his teammates were already gone indicated he might actually be serious. 

“Oh yeah?” replied Jake with a step forward, clearly not buying Peter’s apology. “Then how come you didn’t stop your team from berating Maddie?” 

“Jake just drop it, it’s fine,” I told him and stepped between him and Peter before things could get ugly. “It’s over, and we didn’t get punished for it. Let’s go.” 

With one last unfriendly look at Peter, Jake turned around and we all made our way back to the castle. 

“And thanks,” I quickly muttered to Peter before catching up with my team. The blond nodded at me before following us from a few paces back. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

“That’s bloody unfair! How  _ dare _ they accuse you of such a thing!” exclaimed Lydia. After getting back from the match, I had a nice long shower and changed into some comfortable clothes before joining Camille, Saoirse, and Lydia in the library. I recounted what had occurred during the match and they grew as furious as I had been then. 

“Obviously they were  _ beyond _ embarrassed that they were losing,” Camille added bitterly, “and sought whatever excuse they could find in order to crawl their way back to the top.” 

“Their captain actually apologized to me afterwards, and he seemed sincere. I guess.”

“Sincere indeed!” snorted Camille. “Given his popularity, Peter likely staged the whole fiasco in the first place and is now trying to cover it up to protect his reputation!” 

“Look, it doesn’t matter anymore,” I interjected, repeating what I’d previously said to Jake. “Even if they  _ had _ received a penalty shot, the most they would’ve gotten out of it is 10 points, and that’s  _ if _ they’d scored. We would’ve still been 30 points ahead, so we would’ve won either way.”

“Damn right you would’ve,” chuckled Saoirse. “You guys are  _ way  _ better than the Gryffindors. They only care about winning. But  _ you’ve _ got impeccable teamwork  _ and _ great team spirit. Skill doesn’t matter much if you haven’t got good team communication.” 

“Thanks, guys,” I said, grinning. “I’ll be right back, I forgot my Transfiguration textbook and was hoping to get that essay done as early as possible.” The three nodded at me and I left for the Hufflepuff common room. 

I was walking down a deserted hallway in the dungeons, heading for the basement where the common room was, when I suddenly heard a noise behind me. 

I froze in my tracks and spun around. 

But there was nothing there. Only the torches that lit up the hallway and a few knight-in-shining-armour suits were present. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and proceeded to walk on slowly with caution. I couldn’t shake the unnerving feeling that I was being watched and my heartbeat sped up a little. I quickened my pace so that I could get out of this forsaken hallway as rapidly as possible.

Just then, I heard another noise behind me. 

This one was a lot louder and made me jump and gasp as I whirled around. My hand flew to my mouth as I spotted a piece of one of the suits of armour lying in the middle of the floor just a bit further ahead of me. 

Which  _ definitely _ hadn’t been there before.

Slowly lowering my shaking hand from my mouth, I managed to croak, “Who’s there?” But of course, there was no response. 

I took a cautious step towards the piece, trying to peer behind the suit of armour to see if I could spot someone - or some _ thing _ \- hiding behind it when I all of a sudden felt a hand clamp harshly around my mouth. Another gripped my left shoulder tightly before I could even react. I tried to scream but all that came out were muffled sounds as I began violently thrashing around trying to free myself. I felt more hands grabbing my arms, preventing them from lashing out, as I was dragged away. 

“In there, in there!” I heard a voice frantically whispering as I carried on trying to fight my way out. I couldn’t see who my ambushers were since they were behind me and I tried several times to bite the hand around my mouth. Unfortunately, it was too tightly held and I could barely move my jaws. 

I then heard a sound like a door being opened and the next thing I knew, I was being flung into what seemed to be a dimly lit room. 

“Ow! Hey!” I cried out as I struck the cold, hard floor. I sat up, rubbing my throbbing head, when the door slammed shut behind me. 

“HEY!” I yelled again. I ran over to the door and started pounding on it with my fists. 

“ _What are you doing?! Let me out of here!!_ ” I screeched furiously. I began kicking the door as well, but it was no use. Whoever had thrown me in here definitely wasn’t going to let me out anytime soon; and students would either be in the library or in their common rooms at this time, so there was a rare chance that someone would come by here. I had stupidly also left my wand in my bag in the library, so I couldn’t use magic to get myself out of here. 

After another three minutes or so of endless pounding and screaming, I gave up and sank to the floor. But I immediately sprang back up upon turning around. 

Decorating the walls of the entire room were pictures of me. 

But something was wrong.

They were all somewhat  _ disfigured _ pictures of me. 

I recognized these pictures from past yearbooks. In one picture of me, Camille, Lydia, and Saoirse, the words “ _ ATTENTION WHORE _ ” had been scribbled in harsh red marker over the moving figure that was me. I stared at it, completely horrified, as my eyes travelled to the rest of the pictures. 

Another one taken last year of me and my Quidditch team waving at the camera and grinning had a huge ‘ _ X _ ’ scrawled on it where I was, in the same red marker. 

A third picture was of me and Professor Sprout in Herbology Club standing next to a Venomous Tentacula we had grown. The picture was modified to show the Venomous Tentacula strangling me gruesomely. 

A fourth picture was of me on the last day of school getting ready to leave on the Hogwarts Express, about two years ago. I was dragging my suitcase and laughing at the camera. I remembered Richie had been the one to take that picture, since he was part of the Yearbook Club. My suitcase was my Muggle one I’d brought from America when we first moved to England. It was all black but contained the stars that could be seen on the American flag. I was also sporting my favorite scarf, decorated in red and blue. 

The words “ _ MUDBLOOD SCUM _ ” now dominated the picture. 

My anger flared up at that one. It was one thing to insult someone, but to insult someone based on their  _ family status _ was beyond wrong and completely unacceptable. 

But that wasn’t even the worst thing.

Turning my head, I saw, hovering in midair, higher up and directly in front of me, written in huge letters: 

_**CHEATER** _

An inaudible sound escaped my mouth as I gaped incredulously at the word. 

_ What the hell… ? _

Something else in the lower right corner of the room caught my eye. Another word, exactly like the “ _ cheater _ ” word above, hovered there. Except this one was a bit smaller and instead said “ **_bitch_ ** ” on it. 

_ Who the hell would do this?? And WHY??? _

I soon got my answer. I hadn’t noticed it before, but lying in the middle of the room was a solid, shining object. Approaching it, I realized that it was my gold Quidditch plaque, which all the members of my team had received last year after winning the Quidditch Cup. Carved into it had been the words “ Madeleine Fitzpatrick: Chaser ”. 

Except now, the “Chaser” part was violently scratched out and instead replaced with “ **_i_ _s a liar and a cheat_ ** ”. 

Angry tears flooded my eyes in that moment as I clutched the plaque tightly. 

It was the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They were the ones that did this. They  _ had _ to be. The ruined plaque proved it. They’d done it out of revenge because we weren’t penalized for my “Blatching” during the match. 

But something inside me told me that it wasn’t just that. No… this was something deeper, something much more personal than just a team of sore losers acting out. This was tied to the Melofors Jinx incident - which I was now sure had not been an accident at  _ all _ \- and the incident in the Great Hall with the pumpkin juice a few weeks ago. As well as all the teasing and bullying Camille and I had received over the years for being off-continent Muggle-borns. 

_ Me _ in particular. Camille had always been a tiny bit more respected than I had ever been. But Camille was also a lot smarter and more intimidating than I was, so people had backed off a bit when challenging her. 

Whereas  _ I _ was seen as the easier target. 

The  _ weaker _ twin, despite my talent for sarcastic comebacks and Quidditch abilities, amongst many others. 

I didn’t know  _ what _ it was about me but… words could never describe how I felt in this moment. For the second time that day, I sank to the floor, down to my knees. I could do nothing but stare blankly at all the vandalized photos and the derogatory words written across them, as well as the ones charmed to float in midair, as heavy tears rolled down my cheeks. 

It seemed as though hours had gone by since I sat unmoving in the exact same position on the floor, still tightly gripping the plaque as though holding on for dear life. Tears were still streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks and my shoulders shook with sobs. Some of my hair had begun to fall loose from my headband and fell in front of my face, some of it sticking to me via the tears, but I paid no mind. 

I was numb. 

I still had no idea what I was even thinking or what I was going to do at that moment. I stayed rooted to the spot like a statue, barely even registering how cold I was getting from being on the floor for so long. 

I finally broke out of my trance-like state when a huge sound like an explosion sounded from my left. I jumped in complete fright and let out a yelp as I fell onto my right side. The bricks of the wall on the left came crashing down as though they’d been hit by a wrecking ball. 

And someone was standing on the other side. 

For a moment I just sat there, unblinking, as I stared at the person now in front of me. 

It was the Slytherin boy who’d been my Potions partner a while ago. 

The one I’d crashed into while running out of the Great Hall drenched in pumpkin juice, that same day. 

He looked at me for only a second or two before the surroundings caught his eye. His mouth opened slowly as his eyes shifted from the charmed hovering words to the photos on the wall and finally to the plaque I’d accidentally thrown when I jumped. 

At last, he braved a look at me. 

Taking in my appearance, he made his way over to me. 

“Hey,” he whispered to me in such a calm voice that it sent chills running down my spine. 

Of course, that could’ve also been from the cold I’d been feeling the entire time I was down here but only just now took notice of. 

“Here, let me help you.” He extended his right hand towards me. I hesitantly took it, my ice- cold hand wrapping around his strong, warm one, and he pulled me up. I stumbled a bit as my legs fell asleep, but he caught me swiftly and propped me up. 

“ _ Alohomora _ .” I heard him say and the door I’d been thrown through clicked and opened widely. The poor guy then had to practically pull me along out since my legs were like jelly. 

When we were finally out of the room, he loosened his arm from around me and I managed to compose myself a little bit. I rubbed my tear-stained face with my left arm and was about to raise my right one when I realized that he was still holding my hand from when he’d helped me up. For some reason, this sent a warm feeling rushing through me. His touch felt very… soothing. The warmth of his hand had now spread to mine and I found myself subconsciously hoping he wasn’t going to let go. 

_ God, really Maddie???? Ugh, I must REALLY be getting delusional from the shock of today.  _

“Listen…” he spoke up and I glanced at him. “What was all that? What happened?” 

When I didn’t answer, he added, “I - I was heading down a hallway near the courtyard when a couple of blokes suddenly popped out of a random door in the wall laughing and high-fiving each other before running off. I didn’t get a good look at them, but I decided to see what the fuss was all about and went through the door myself. I must’ve been walking around in the pitch black with  _ Lumos _ for about half an hour before eventually coming to a dead end.  Or at least, I  _ thought _ it was a dead end. But something had seemed off to me; the wall looked a bit different than the rest, almost fake. As if somebody had deliberately planted it there so as to hide something behind it. I cast  _ Revelio _ and, sure enough, the wall came down and you were on the other side.” 

_ So THAT was how he’d randomly appeared from behind an exploding wall.  _

“Th - thanks,” I whispered to him in a trembling voice. We both remained silent for some time before the Slytherin boy spoke again. 

“Look... ,” he started. “I just want you to know that what was in there is an absolute vile and monstrous thing to do to someone. Those idiotic blokes won’t be laughing in the slighest once they see how much trouble - ”

“It was the Gryffindor team,” I cut in. 

“What?” 

“The Gryffindor Quidditch team,” I clarified. “It was them, I know it was.” 

His silence and the newly-formed perplexed look on his face invited me to explain. 

“During the match today, I cut in front of one of their players and they falsely accused me of Blatching. Madam Hooch overruled it, but they weren’t very quick to forgive. Especially since our team ended up winning. 

“It makes perfect sense, too,” I continued. “The crossed-out section of me in that team photo. The charmed “ _ cheater _ ” word. My defaced Quidditch plaque. They all have to do with Quidditch. Plus, you said it was a  _ group _ of people you saw, not just a single person. I’ll bet you two thousand Galleons it was them.” 

“You’re absolutely certain about this? That it was all the Gryffindor Quidditch team members?” 

“Well, most of them at least. Their captain Peter apologized to me earlier, but I don’t know if he actually meant it or not. Maybe he was involved, maybe he wasn’t, I’ve no idea.” 

“Well in any case, we’ve got to tell a teacher and get everything cleaned up,” he said as he shut the door to the wretched room and the both of us began walking away. “You’ve got to tell them your suspicions, too. I’ll talk to Peter myself, see what he knows about this.” That last comment made me do a double take. 

“Wait, you know Peter?” I inquired. 

“He’s my brother.” 

I froze in my tracks. Our hands were still intertwined ( _ my breath hitched without my control _ ) so he stopped too when he pulled on my hand and it didn’t move. 

Then it hit me. 

That day when Snape had assigned us to be partners in Potions, he’d referred to my partner as “Mr. Pevensie”. Peter’s last name was also Pevensie, which I knew first of all because Quidditch players pretty much knew all other players’ names (and he was captain of his team too, on top of that), and second of all because he was one of the most popular blokes in the school. With his tall, fit figure and perfect blond hair, he practically had all the girls swooning at his feet. I hear his name being thrown around in literally every single class of mine. 

How on Earth did I fail to recognize the name when Snape had said it?

“I know,” Peter’s brother said upon witnessing my reaction. “It comes as a shock to most people, too, when they find out.”

“What? No! No, I wasn’t - ” I stammered. 

“I didn’t know anything about any of this either, if that’s what you’re wondering.” He was referring to the incident in the room just now. Truth be told, the thought  _ had _ crossed my mind when he’d revealed he and Peter were siblings, and the fact that my face flushed in embarrassment only confirmed it. 

“As I said, I’ll talk to Peter about it, see what he knows. Meanwhile, you need to go and find a teacher to tell them about this. On the way, I’ll also let your sister know what happened and where you are.” I blinked at him and scrunched my eyebrows. 

“You know my sister?” I questioned in surprise. 

“Yeah, she’s in Potions Club with me. We’ve spoken a few times,” he explained. I nodded in understanding. 

“We were in the library before, but she might’ve left to look for me. Try asking some Hufflepuffs to check in our common room.” He gave a quick nod and turned to walk in the opposite direction. The warmth of his hand left me, which sent a wave of disappointment washing over me for about half a second. 

As I was about to start walking away, however, he halted and turned to face me. 

“Hey, um… I’m Edmund, by the way,” he said while pushing a hand through his thick dark locks. My breath hitched in my throat again as I traced the movement with my eyes. He really  _ was _ quite attractive…

“Uh - Maddie,” I stuttered, shaking myself out of my estranged reverie. “N - nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he replied with a smile before continuing on, making his way to the Hufflepuff common room. I felt my face heat up and rapidly spun around as I began walking away from him and towards the nearest classroom. 

_ Man,  _ I thought tiredly,  _ what a day.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

“Remember your research papers on Flitterblooms for next class!” Professor Sprout called after the entire class as we packed up our things and left the greenhouse. “And for those in Herbology Club, today’s meeting is this evening at 5, so don’t forget!” I made a mental note of that as I followed my sister, Saoirse, and Lydia out. 

“Last class of the day!” exclaimed Lydia as we made our way to Transfiguration. 

“Well, for the four of us, at least. The Slytherins and Gryffindors have Transfiguration right after us. And plus, we’ve still got an  _ entire _ weekend full of assignments to look forward to,” Saoirse complained. 

“Ah, well. At least we get to sleep in,” Lydia chimed, ever so optimistic. 

On the way, I felt someone bump my shoulder aggressively. 

“Ouch!” I cried out, and when I turned to look at who it was, I spotted Roger Fisher - the Gryffindor Quidditch player who’d accused me of Blatching in our match against Gryffindor weeks ago - leering at me before walking away in the opposite direction. 

“Bloody jerk,” Lydia muttered under her breath before mirroring Fisher’s glare at me right back at him. 

It was confirmed that it had, in fact, been the Gryffindor Quidditch team that had thrown and locked me in that room, written all those horrible things about me, and ruined my Quidditch plaque. However, the team captain Peter - under Edmund’s and the school staff’s brutal interrogations - confirmed that he had not at all been involved and hadn’t even been aware of the plan. The other six team players had confirmed that this was true, it was only they that had been involved. The Gryffindor Quidditch team had as punishment been suspended for the rest of the year, so the remaining matches would be between the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin teams. 

On top of that, the six team members that were involved in my torment were permanently kicked off the team, and the team next year would comprise entirely of the reserve team (since Peter was graduating this year). 

I’d actually tried to argue for the members to be able to remain on the team next year - since I knew that their complete removal would put a LARGE target on my back - but my pleas were dismissed. However, I’d overheard Peter scolding his team later and telling them he agreed wholeheartedly with the punishment and that they deserved every last bit of it for the “outrageous and inexcusable actions” towards me. 

I have to say I was  _ VERY _ relieved (albeit also very  _ surprised _ ) that Peter sided with me against his own team at the cost of the House Cup. 

And as for Edmund… well, we give each other friendly smiles and waves whenever we see each other and we’ve talked briefly a few times, but that was it.

It made me a bit sad though, because I definitely wanted to get to know him more and possibly even allow for us to grow closer. 

And I couldn’t deny, he was  _ awfully _ good-looking. 

I often found my thoughts subconsciously wandering over to him at the randomest times, but I always slapped them away before they could turn into a big deal. Whatever “big deal” even was. 

We piled into Transfiguration class just as McGonagall finished arranging everything and turned to us. 

“Good afternoon, class,” she began in her usual calm-yet-superior voice when a Ravenclaw girl interrupted her. 

“Professor, aren’t we Transfiguring anything today?” she asked. “I don’t see any objects or animals anywhere. And why is the board blank?” Glancing up at the chalkboard at the front of the class, I noticed that, for the first time ever, the board was, in fact, actually blank. Usually it had symbols or fundamental Transfiguration laws written across it, but not this time. 

“I was just getting to that, Miss Talerico,” responded McGonagall, and the girl blushed sheepishly. “Today, we will not be doing any Transfigurations. Instead, we will be spending the class working on your concentration skills, which as you all know are  _ crucial _ in Transfiguration. I’ve concluded that this is the reason why your last few Transfigurations have been more and more unsuccessful. You’re all much too confident and frustrated, which only falters your concentration. To sharpen your focus, I’ve arranged a different type of lesson.” She waved her wand and dozens of wizard’s chess boards began appearing on the desks in front of us. 

“Wizard’s chess is one of the most complex games that exists and requires much focus, intellect, and strategy to be played,” she explained. “You will get into pairs and play. The winners will go on to play against other winners while the losers sit along the edge of the classroom. We will continue this way until there are two remaining players in the class, who will face off at the end. Begin.” 

I was actually very excited. I  _ loved _ chess. Mine and Camille’s grandfather taught us to play at a young age and we’d often played ever since. I had a bit more passion for it than Camille ever did, so I was beginning to beat her more and more often. And wizard’s chess wasn’t much different from regular chess. The only difference really was the fact that the pieces were alive and moved themselves on the board (and brutally destroyed each other once a piece took another, but it was nothing a simple  _ Reparo _ spell couldn’t fix). 

Camille and I looked at each other, smirked, and nodded. We were going to face off. 

Our game surprisingly wasn’t very lengthy, since Camille made a fatal error at one point which allowed me to take her queen with my rook and put her king in checkmate. Camille smiled and nodded at me. 

“Well done, Maddie,” she laughed. “Although I would’ve beat you if I hadn’t made that mistake.” She jokingly added. I stuck out my tongue at her teasingly and we both laughed as she walked over to the side of the room where the other non-winners were. I saw that almost all of them stared in confusion as Camille made her way over to them and then proceeded to gawk at me in amazement. I smiled proudly at myself. It was clearly a massive shock to them that Camille - the intelligent one of us - was beaten so easily and so early by me, the “less intelligent” Fitzpatrick twin. 

Still smiling, I turned around just as Lydia was beaten by Saoirse and joined Camille and the rest at the edge of the class. The both of us then partnered up together and played a short match of ten moves before I beat her. 

“Wow, Maddie. With those skills, you might even give Professor McGonagall a run for her money!” Saoirse complimented me before shaking my hand and going over to where Camille and Lydia were. 

I looked around and noticed that there wasn’t anyone available to play against yet so I waited by my table until one Ravenclaw student lost to another Ravenclaw and made his way over to the non-winners. I took up his spot against his partner and I nearly lost before swindling her and thus forcing her into resignation. The Ravenclaw girl’s eyes widened in a shocked “it’s not possible” manner before narrowing her eyes at me and leaving abruptly, refusing to shake my hand or even look at me. I raised my eyebrows at her and moved on to my next opponent. 

As time went by, the non-winners crowd began to grow as fewer and fewer players were left. I ended up playing against a couple more Ravenclaws and I even got to play against Heather (our Quidditch team’s Seeker), Richie, and our team’s Keeper. I’d beaten them all and, after winning against another Hufflepuff, I caught lots of non-winners staring and whispering and pointing anxiously behind me. I frowned and glanced over to where they pointed to see that the only two students remaining were myself and a Ravenclaw boy. 

The boy had an unreadable expression on his face as his eyes bore into mine. Professor McGonagall - who had been walking around observing the matches and  _ Reparo _ -ing shattered chess pieces - now went to stand at the front of the classroom. 

“Students, I would like to congratulate each and every one of you for your marvellous efforts and outstanding plays today,” she announced. “It has now come down to Madeleine Fitzpatrick of Hufflepuff and Pietro Vexmoor of Ravenclaw to face off in the final match.” McGonagall beckoned us to her desk at the front of the classroom, where lay an untouched chess board ready for us to play on. 

I’d recognized the Ravenclaw boy’s name as soon as McGonagall had said it. 

Pietro Vexmoor - the seemingly undefeatable wizard’s chess genius of Hogwarts. I’d heard rumours that even the cleverest of seventh years hadn’t come  _ close _ to beating him. 

I suddenly remembered my friends teasing me about challenging him to a match in the past. 

Well, now here I was. 

Up and ready to make an idiot out of myself in front of everybody. Again. 

I gulped but put on my best brave and unfazed expression as Pietro and I approached Professor McGonagall’s desk and took our seats on opposite ends. Even though the rest of the class was behind me, I heard their footsteps as everyone crept over to where we were in order to observe the game. 

“Now, let’s see who will play White,” said Professor McGonagall as she conjured up an arrow in midair. She then made it spin around for a few seconds. 

Sweat trickled down my forehead as the arrow slowed to a stop and pointed at Pietro. 

Which meant that I would be playing Black. 

_ Okay, Maddie _ , I told myself as firmly as I could.  _ Calm down, you can do this. Even if you can’t, you already beat a large part of the class in short amounts of time anyway. No one can make fun of you for that. _

“You may begin,” I heard McGonagall say after all the pieces assembled themselves on the board. I silently took a deep breath and glanced at Pietro, who seemed to think of nothing else but the pieces and the board in front of him. 

“Pawn to e4,” he announced in a clear voice. The little white pawn dragged itself to the corresponding location as my eyes flew over the chess board in a calculating manner. 

“Pawn to c5,” I finally said, deciding to play the Sicilian. I knew that was a bit of a risky move, but I didn’t really have a choice when it came to playing against an expert. I just needed to trust my instincts and let the board guide me. I went for Open Sicilian on the third move, which was a relief since it was slightly easier on Black than Closed. 

Either way, I still needed to be extremely careful and quick-witted about all my moves else Pietro could take me out and I wouldn’t even see it coming. 

We then began playing intensely as we each moved our pieces within a fraction of a second after the other played. There was no doubt that Pietro was incredible: my pieces were dropping like flies and, on the thirteenth move, Pietro castled queenside.

I felt my insides freeze for a moment, since queenside was much more rare and aggressive than kingside castling, but relaxed after Pietro’s threat on my f8 rook forced me to also castle queenside on the fourteenth move. 

The downside, though, was that White was still at a large advantage. 

As the game went on, it became trickier and trickier to predict Pietro’s movements. I could see why he was practically a champion; he was almost  _ entirely  _ unpredictable. He makes an innocent-looking move that lands you directly into his trap. At this point, I wasn’t really losing any more pieces, rather I found myself getting blocked or prompted by the White pieces, which were being placed threateningly in order to forcefully expose my king. 

I was  _ really  _ starting to feel the pressure now. My entire body was sweating as my eyes pinballed across the chess board, wildly trying to see how I could get myself out of the mess I was in. I was too scared to move anything due to Pietro’s unpredictability. But honestly, in the position I was in at the moment, I wasn’t even sure what my movements could even lead to. 

I was stuck. 

I swallowed and anxiously began tapping my foot while imagining all the possible ways this could end. 

“Alright, students,” Professor McGonagall spoke from beside us, making me jump violently. “Class is nearly finished. Mr. Vexmoor and Miss Fitzpatrick will finish their match on Monday, so everybody please pack your belongings. I have another class coming in soon.” She might as well have been talking to a wall, for nobody moved and everyone’s attention was still heavily fixated on me and Pietro and the game. 

Just then, I saw Pietro look up at me out of the corner of my eye. 

“Draw?” 

The word slowly drawled out of his mouth almost like a whisper but loud enough for everyone to hear. However, I couldn’t say he’d caught me completely by surprise. He could also very clearly see that I was walking a thin line with this match. And in a way, I agreed with him that we should either end it here now or that I should resign. 

But just as I was about to do so, my breath caught in my throat as I came to a realization. 

_ There was a way.  _

And there definitely was, for I could now see it had a chance of working out in my favour. But I needed to ask for the impossible in order to make it work: I had to trick Pietro into taking my bait. 

I almost laughed out loud at the thought, but then my mind drifted to all the memories I had of being bullied and teased and being made feel less-than. 

The “dumber” twin. 

The “lesser” witch for being Muggle-born. 

The main target for a fantastic source of cruel entertainment. 

But I was  _ not _ that girl. 

I was Maddie Fitzpatrick: the witch who could do  _ anything _ she set her mind to with the greatest willpower that ever existed. 

And  _ NOBODY _ could ever take that away from me. 

I lifted my eyes from the board and glanced directly into Pietro’s own green ones. With a serious, piercing gaze, I slowly shook my head at his offer. 

His eyes flickered for a second out of astonishment before quickly returning to their normal concentrated gaze. I looked back down at the board and made my move. 

“Pawn to a4.” I saw Pietro raise an eyebrow, puzzled, and I knew exactly why. He had expected me to move my threatened d5 pawn forward, which I’d been about to do until I’d seen the other way around it. But he just shrugged and continued on. 

“Knight to d5.” 

My pawn on d5 was whacked away by Pietro’s knight and I had to physically restrain myself from smiling.  _ He took the bait,  _ I thought disbelievingly.  _ Oh my God, he actually took the bait!! I still have a chance _ !

I smirked and replied with, “Pawn to a3.”

“Rook to d2.” 

“Rook to d6.” 

We battled rooks a few moves more until Pietro lost one of his to my king after putting it in check. 

_ There it was _ , I thought proudly,  _ the road to my success.  _

Just then, the sound of footsteps was heard across the room and I turned to see McGonagall’s next class - the Slytherins and Gryffindors of our year - beginning to walk in and stare in confusion at Pietro and I and the crowd of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws around us. 

“Students, I’m  _ serious _ ,” Professor McGonagall said harshly, her voice rising. “The game will finish on Monday. Now I  _ must _ start the next lesson, therefore I demand you leave at once!” 

But just like before, nobody moved. Nobody  _ could _ move. Not now. Not after I’d refused a draw from Hogwarts’ undefeated wizard’s chess master and was now making him sweat through his robes. The game picked up speed once again as Pietro spent the next few moves taking five of my pieces in a row, exactly as I’d wanted him to. I could tell he couldn’t figure out what I was planning, for he seemed to be more focused on taking my pieces rather than protecting his king from my secret attack. 

“Pawn to g4.” I tapped my fingers together in deep concentration. 

“Rook to d2.” Anxious whispers rose all around us with the highly rising intensity of the game. Pietro bit his lip and furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes racing over the board at an impossible speed. 

“King to h3,” was his decision. 

And everything changed in that moment. My eyes lit up and I suppressed a gasp. The whispers were getting louder, the confused murmur of Slytherins and Gryffindors who were wondering what was going on increased, but it was all a blur to me. My heart hammered loudly in my chest. 

“Alright now, that is  _ enough _ ,” Professor McGonagall’s angry tone of voice was heard. “You will  _ all _ listen to me and exit this classroom  _ right this second _ \- ” 

“Queen to b2.” I breathed and a loud hush swept over the crowd at the deafening sound of my queen hitting a white pawn away and positioning herself in its place at the destined square. Even Professor McGonagall cut herself off mid-sentence. You could practically hear a pin drop at the silence that had now overtaken the classroom. 

“Checkmate.” 

My voice seemed to echo around the class as Pietro’s king released his sword, which clattered loudly and clearly (despite its small size) on the board, signalling the end of the match. 

The silence remained for a long time after. Everyone seemed too afraid to even breathe. 

I, the seemingly useless and despised Madeleine Fitzpatrick - the nobody of the school - , had just beaten the famous and unassailable Pietro Vexmoor at wizard’s chess. 

How.

The.

Hell. 

Finally, Pietro - whose eyes were glued to the board, unblinking, in astoundment as he finally realized what I’d been planning all along - lifted his head towards me and stood up. I pushed my chair back and impulsively stood up as well, not really knowing what else to do. I was shaking all over with overwhelming feelings. Pietro then extended his arm towards me. 

“Good game, Fitzpatrick.” His face was once again unreadable and he’d spoken almost monotonously as he briskly shook my hand. It was like shaking hands with a robot, you would’ve thought someone was forcing the words out of his mouth. Nevertheless, he didn’t seem to have meant it in an unfriendly manner and he gave me a short smile and curt nod before casting  _ Reparo _ on all the pieces. 

All of sudden, a big round of applause spread across the whole room. My head jerked to the side and I saw nearly all the Hufflepuffs clapping and whooping at me with Camille, Lydia, Saoirse, and my Quidditch team members being the loudest ones. 

“Yay, Maddie!” they cried. 

Almost none of the Ravenclaws clapped, which of course was to be expected, and I turned my head to the left as I heard even more applause joining in. A handful of Gryffindors and some Slytherins clapped along as well. I scanned the crowd and my eyes found Edmund near the middle clapping loudly and giving me a wide, proud-looking smile. I grinned largely back at him and gave him a little wave, but turned my head before I could see his reaction due to my face choosing to flush bright red in that moment. I heard more Slytherins and Gryffindors joining in the applause, although I suspected most of it was directed at Pietro having finally been defeated as opposed to in support of me. 

But I didn’t care at all. 

I’d just made Hogwarts history. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you've made it this far, thank you so so much for reading! I just wanted to point out here that I am NOT (at all lol) a professional chess player and that it took me many attempts using a chess website's analysis tool to create a game that would go the way I wanted it to. If any super good chess players are reading this please don't come for me lol, I tried my best.   
> Once again, thanks for reading and please review! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know that the first few chapters centered more around Maddie's character building, but this chapter will actually explore Ed and Maddie's relationship a bit more! Once again, thanks for reading and enjoy!!

As soon as I threw open the enormous entrance doors, a fresh breeze blew in my face and I inhaled it vigorously. It was Sunday today - two days after my famously miraculous chess victory against Pietro Vexmoor - and my sister, my friends, and I have been spending the entire day studying and catching up on homework. Camille had dragged us all out of bed at an impossibly early hour this morning and forced our butts onto the chairs in the Hufflepuff common room, where we’d been sitting ever since. I strongly envied our fifth roommate Beth - the other girl Chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, besides me - who slept in until almost lunchtime and had gone down to the Pitch for a practice session. 

It was now about two in the afternoon, and after much begging from Lydia, Saoirse, and myself to Camille, we were taking an hour-long break. 

I’d decided to come outside, my absolute favourite place to be in the entire world. I’d always felt a sense of serenity when I was surrounded by the grass and the trees and the gentle spring breeze. 

I walked along and headed to my favourite spot: a little clearing surrounded by trees near the Great Lake, where a little Bowtruckle tree had sprouted just last year. There were about seven little Bowtruckles living there now, which I’d made friends with and taken the time to name. I also used the  _ Colovaria _ charm to colour one of their two leaves in order to be able to identify them all, which the Bowtruckles hadn’t minded. I was very excited to see them all again. 

Clearly they had also been very excited to see me as well, for the moment I reached the tree, I found all seven Bowtruckles hurling themselves at me and climbing up my arms to my shoulders, where they rubbed themselves affectionately against my cheeks. 

“Hey!” I laughed as they began peppering my face with little butterfly kisses. “I’m so glad to see you all, I’ve missed you guys so much! Ludwig, you haven’t been getting into mischief again, I hope?” A Bowtruckle with one orange-coloured leaf aggressively shook its head at me. I raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief and he pouted, making me laugh even more. 

I spent the next ten minutes or so playing with the Bowtruckles, baby-talking and tickling them, and laughing myself silly. This is just what I needed after frying my brain with schoolwork all morning. 

“Seems they like you a lot.” A voice cut through the air and I yelped in surprise as I twisted around to see who had spoken. The figure was buried in sunlight and hard to see, but I would recognize its shape and voice anywhere. 

“Edmund? What are you doing here?” I was very aware of my red-turning face but managed to cover it up by turning away as he sat down cross-legged beside me. 

“I was just taking a little walk when I heard your voice,” he explained. 

“Oh.” _So he had heard me baby-talking the Bowtruckles. Fantastic._ _He probably thinks I’m a total freak now._

One of the Bowtruckles then scurried off my shoulder and along my right arm, stopping to glare mistrustfully at Edmund. The latter recoiled a little. 

“Dizzy, that’s not very nice,” I scolded the red-leafed Bowtruckle with a tiny laugh. “It’s okay, he’s a friend. Don’t worry, they won’t attack or bite you.” I directed my last sentence at Edmund, who was eyeing the Bowtruckle in an uncomfortable manner. 

“You’re sure?” 

“Yes, I’m certain,” I giggled and placed Dizzy back on the Bowtruckle tree. 

“They’re adorable, I’ll admit.” 

“They really are, yeah. Bowtruckles are my favorite magical creature,” I replied and all seven Bowtruckles beamed at me. 

“How come they’ve got one leaf that’s coloured?”

“I did that to make it easier to identify them. You’ve already met Dizzy,” I said, gesturing to the Bowtruckle with one red leaf, “and then there’s Ludwig, Snowdrop, Casey, Reed, Pincer, and Paisley.” Edmund hesitantly extended an index finger towards them and they each shook it with their miniscule twig-like arms. 

“Magical creatures are truly fascinating,” he breathed. “They remind me of when I was back in Narnia with - ” He stopped abruptly and I saw his eyes widening in an I-shouldn’t-have-said-that way. He avoided my gaze and cleared his throat. 

“Narnia?” I questioned. “What’s that?” Edmund continued to avoid looking at me and twiddled his fingers nervously as he stared at the ground. After a while, he drew in a deep breath before facing me. 

“Alright…. can I trust you to keep a secret?” 

I nodded sincerely at him. I was an excellent secret-keeper. If someone tells me not to tell something, I never do.  _ Ever _ . That’s why people usually talk to me about things, they always trust me never to gossip to anybody else. 

“Narnia is… well, it’s just about the best place in the world, you see,” he started dreamily. “Except it’s not actually in this world… it’s very far, far away from here. And we don’t get to visit it often. On the contrary, we’ve only been twice so far.”

“ _ We _ ?” I inquired. 

“My siblings and I.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had more than one sibling. I thought it was only you and Peter.”

“I’ve got two sisters as well. Susan’s the second oldest - she’s a year younger than Peter, in her sixth year, and she’s in Ravenclaw. Lucy’s the youngest, she’s in second year. She’s in the same house as you actually, in Hufflepuff.” 

“Oh, I never noticed, I’m sorry,” I said, my face growing red with embarrassment. “I don’t really talk to Hufflepuffs outside of my year.” 

“No worries,” Edmund replied casually. 

“Funny how all four of you just happened to end up in all four different Houses, too!” I added. “Usually it’s very rare that even  _ one _ sibling ends up in a different House than another.” 

“Yeah, I remember when Susan went to Hogwarts the year after Peter and people kept talking about how strange it was that they were in two different Houses. It was a real shock then when I finally came and was Sorted into a different House than  _ both _ of them. Even Dumbledore said he’d never seen anything like it,” Edmund explained. “But it was no surprise then that Lucy was placed in the last House. But we’re all fine with it, and we can see each other between classes as well, if we need.”

“You’ll have to introduce me someday,” I told him. “But, um… I was just wondering, since Narnia is supposedly not part of our world, how do you get there? And what exactly do you find there?” 

Edmund then launched into a long explanation about how, a few years ago, his youngest sibling Lucy had discovered a wardrobe in an old professor’s house they were staying at and stumbled upon the magical land of Narnia after hiding in the wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek. He talked of the Great Lion Aslan, the powerful and wise creator of Narnia. He then mentioned how Narnia was at the time cursed by the evil White Witch and became a land of eternal winter with no Christmas. 

“And only four siblings who would sit on the thrones of Care Perval and rule as the kings and queens of Narnia would be able to defeat the White Witch and end the winter?” I gasped, enraptured by the story. 

“ _ Cair Paravel _ ,” corrected Edmund with a laugh. “And yes, that’s right. And those four siblings turned out to be us, obviously.”

“So you all became kings and queens of Narnia? But then why are you here now?”

“Time passes differently in Narnia than it does here. A few minutes here could be a hundred years in Narnia, or vice versa. For example, my siblings and I ruled Narnia for about fifteen years or so. When we came back to Earth, only about five minutes had passed and we were once again the same age we were when we’d first gone through the wardrobe.” 

“That is truly fascinating!” I breathed. 

He then proceeded to tell me about how, at a train station near their home a year later, they were called back to Narnia and found that nearly 1300 years had passed there. They were to help Prince Caspian the Tenth become the rightful king of Narnia by defeating his evil uncle Miraz and give the Narnians back their land and kingdom. 

I was still wide-eyed and my head was swimming with questions by the time Edmund finished telling me all about their adventures in Narnia. I started by asking him the one I was the most curious to know the answer to. 

“So, because you can only go to Narnia when it calls you, you guys will never know exactly when you get to go back?” 

Edmund shook his head sadly. 

“The worst part is, we found out that there are only a certain number of times we can go to Narnia,” he explained, his voice quieting a bit. “The last time we were there, Aslan told Peter and Susan they were now too old and could never again return to Narnia. Susan took it especially hard. She and Caspian had fallen in love, see. Peter says she’s quite popular with the blokes at Hogwarts, but she doesn’t show the slightest interest in any of them. Caspian’s the only one she’s ever really loved.” 

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” I gushed, placing my hands over my heart. My heart broke for Susan and Caspian, but Edmund grimaced slightly beside me. 

“I mean,  _ I _ don’t really understand it, but I really do hate seeing my sister so miserable and unhappy. I just wish there was something I could do.” I nodded sympathetically and we both remained silent for some time. 

“I’m really sorry it’s been so hard on all of you,” I finally said. 

“It’s not all bad. After all, we are attending the best wizarding school to ever exist. Much better than our life prior to Hogwarts, attending Muggle boarding school. But at the same time...” 

“It’s not Narnia,” I finished for him. “But I’m positive you’ll return someday. Maybe a lot sooner than you think.” His eyes met mine and he stared at me before breaking into a smile. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” 

I reciprocated his smile and found it impossible to look away from him. He had soft, brown eyes that shone brightly in a way that made my heart melt and the colour rush to my cheeks. He always had such a gentle and caring look on his face, and it was one I’d been experiencing more often lately when we crossed paths or talked briefly at school. 

And it cut my breath short every time. 

There was no denying that I’d developed a bit of a crush on him, and the way we sat staring at each other at this very moment did  _ not _ help matters. 

I felt silly having a crush on someone I hadn’t even known for a very long time. What’s worse is that I realized I’d actually felt a lessened version of this familiar spark the first few times I’d ever seen him. 

_ But that’s so stupid, right?  _

How can I have a crush on someone I hardly know anything about? Especially me, who has recently developed MAJOR trust issues after…

“So, do you think you’d be able to?” Edmund’s voice cut through my thoughts and brought me back to reality. I blinked and gave my head a shake. I hadn’t even realized he’d been talking to me. 

“Uh, able to do what?” I asked stupidly.

“I said I was wondering if you could help me improve my chess skills,” Edmund repeated. “You  _ are _ Hogwarts’ new champion player, after all. And I’m asking because, well, I’d done quite poorly in the chess matches in Transfiguration on Friday and was looking to improve. I’ve also never been able to beat Peter in a game, and he never lets me forget it. On top of that, even when I was a fully-grown king in Narnia, I was still nowhere  _ near _ as good as you are. So, what do you say? If you have time, of course.” He added that last part rushingly and gave me a nervous-looking smile. The wind had blown a lock of curled dark hair onto his forehead and it took every ounce of self-control I had in me to refrain from reaching out and gently pushing it away. I felt my face flush scarlet once more and rapidly stuck my arm out in front of it, making it look like I was shielding my eyes from the sun. 

“Sure. I consider it a true honour to be able to teach a great king such as yourself.” I bowed teasingly and Edmund laughed out loud. 

“ _ I’m _ the one who should be honoured to be taught by a Grandmaster,” he teased back. 

“Hah! Grandmaster, my ass! Those guys could beat me in  _ three _ moves and I wouldn’t even see it coming!” The both of us laughed and teased each other back and forth a bit longer before saying goodbye to the Bowtruckles and heading back towards the castle. 

“In all seriousness, though,” I told him after we calmed down a bit. “I would be happy to help you with chess.” 

“Thank you, Maddie. I really appreciate it.” This was the first time I’d ever heard Edmund saying my name. It made me feel warm inside and I beamed. 

I loved hearing him say it. 

Back at the castle, Edmund and I made tutoring arrangements and said goodbye to each other before parting ways. I headed back to the Hufflepuff common room where Camille, Lydia, Saoirse and I were supposed to meet after our break… two hours ago!! My mouth fell open as I glanced at my watch and saw that it was past five o’clock. 

_ Shit _ , I sighed while slapping my hand over my forehead,  _ Camille’s gonna throw a FIT once I show up so late.  _

Unfortunately, I was right. 

“Madeleine Fitzpatrick!” she shrieked as soon as I stepped through the common room door. I winced. When Camille got mad, she reacted almost the same as our mother did. 

And it was scary. 

“ _ Where  _ have you  _ been?! _ You were supposed to come back at three!” She stomped over to me, scowling, with her hands firmly on her hips. I saw Saoirse and Lydia in the background in the spot where we’d been studying. They bore sorry looks on their faces. 

“Sorry, Cam,” I told her earnestly. “I, um… I was with a friend.” Camille furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Who?” she demanded. 

In this case, normal siblings would’ve most definitely fired back at their other sibling that it was none of their business, but Camille and I hated fighting and always told each other everything anyway. 

“His name is Edmund. We ran into each other outside and just talked for a while.” Camille’s gaze seemed to soften up a bit while Saoirse and Lydia’s faces perked and then formed sly smiles. 

“Ooooh, you were with a  _ boy _ , Maddie?” teased Lydia with a smirk. 

“Oh, shove off.” But my face betrayed me by blushing deeply, not going unnoticed by the three of them. 

“Maddie’s got a crush, Maddie’s got a crush!” they chanted. 

“Not so loud!” I hissed at them as heads began turning our way. 

“Fine, let’s go to our room.” Saoirse and Lydia packed up all their study materials, plus Camille’s, and the four of us climbed up to our dorm room. 

“So,” Saoirse started as we all took a seat on my bed. “Tell us about this Edmund bloke. Who is he and how did you meet him?”

Lydia gasped. “Is it that Slytherin boy you sometimes talk to and smile at? The one that always stares at you in Potions?” 

_ Stares at me? Did Edmund really stare at me? _ My expression must’ve shifted after she said that because the three of them suddenly smirked. 

“N - no, you’ve got it all wrong,” I stuttered like an idiot. “Yes, he is the Slytherin I sometimes talk to. But we’re just friends. I told you, I went outside on our break and we ran into each other, so we talked.” The three of them stared at me, clearly refusing to believe the “we’re just friends” part. 

“Mhmm,” hummed Lydia. “And you  _ don’t _ have a crush on him? At all?”

“That’s right, I don’t.” 

“You’re lying.” 

“Look, what does it matter?” I snapped in annoyance. “I don’t need romance or a relationship in my life. I will not have another incident like I did with Thomas!” 

“Maddie, not every boy you meet is going to be like Thomas,” Camille reasoned. “That son of a bitch has got hell to pay for what he did to you, and I know he’s the cause of the serious trust issues you’ve developed. But that doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll go through in every single relationship you’ll ever have.” I knew that what she was saying was true, and I could feel my heart aching for Edmund. But I was too emotionally damaged for any more relationships. Too scarred to be able to trust anyone else with my heart. 

“Forget it,” I told all of them, dejectedly. “Anyways, I really am sorry about the study session. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“It doesn’t matter, don’t worry about it,” Camille answered and threw her arms around me. Lydia and Saoirse joined in and I hugged them back with all I had in me. 

I really was one of the luckiest people on Earth to have such amazing and supportive friends. 

And I wouldn’t trade them for the world. 

“Alright, well I’ve got Potions club now,” announced my sister as she released herself from the group hug after a while. “I’ll see you all at dinner.” 

We waved goodbye to Camille as she stood up and walked out of the room. Lydia and Saoirse each gave me one last hug and a supportive pat on the back before retreating to their own beds for a little nap before dinner. They were both dripping with exhaustion from all the studying. 

I, on the other hand, was far from tired. I decided to continue the Muggle book my mother had sent me last week, but found I was unable to concentrate on the words. My thoughts were circling back to Edmund and Thomas and feelings and relationships. 

It anguished me that I couldn’t let go of my trust issues and give my feelings for Edmund a chance. But every time I thought about it, I thought about what I’d gone through the summer before last year. 

What I’d gone through the summer before  _ this _ year. 

What was more, my thoughts also kept turning back to the stories Edmund had been telling me about Narnia. Some of the things he mentioned didn’t make any sense. Something in his story about how he and his three siblings had defeated the White Witch didn’t quite add up. 

I had the strange - and sinking - feeling that he was hiding something from me. 

Which did nothing to improve the situation with my trust issues. 

I closed my book and decided to join Lydia and Saoirse and take a nap myself. Maybe that would clear my troubled mind and freshen me up a little before dinner.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As always, don't forget to review and let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

“No, no you should  _ never _ take the black pawn when you’re in a situation like this,” I was explaining to Edmund. The two of us were hunched over a wizard’s chess set that Madam Pince had lent us. Of course, she forbade us from playing in the library, claiming it would be much too noisy, so we’d taken the set to play in the Great Hall instead. “If you take Black’s pawn with your g1 pawn, you’ll end up with doubled pawns along the f-file. That leaves your g-file wide open and exposed to the dangerously close black knight and queen. And castling would be suicide.” I watched as Edmund’s eyes studied the board for a minute before widening in realization. 

“Crikey, I hadn’t even noticed that,” he admitted. “Merlin, how are you that fast? I didn’t even see the queen threat.” 

Due to having spent countless hours analyzing chess boards, replaying games, and studying board structure ever since I was really young, my sharp eyes had seen the threat coming from a mile away. But of course, I wasn’t about to tell him that. 

“It’s okay, it takes a  _ lot _ of time and practice to be able to predict moves, trust me.” 

“I’m also just rubbish at the game in general,” he chuckled. “It never even crossed my mind all the different possible moves and outcomes of a game. A  _ single _ move - even just moving one pawn forward - can dictate the entire outcome of a game.” I nodded seriously. 

“You’re telling me. That’s why it takes  _ hours _ for professionals just to make  _ one _ move.” Edmund laughed and I grinned along. I loved hearing him laugh. It always sounded so sincere, so full of joy. 

And his smile. It was like nothing in the world bothered him. It was just him and his happiness, dominating his entire world. 

“Hey um, I was just wondering, what’s your favourite opening in chess when playing White?” 

I chuckled. “Trying to figure out tactics to beat me, Pevensie?” I grinned cheekily. Edmund rolled his eyes playfully at me. 

“Come on, I couldn’t beat you with all the practice in the world. You’re too much of an expert.” I giggled. 

“My personal favourite is the Queen’s Gambit.” 

Edmund nodded. “I’ve heard of that one but I’m not sure how to play it. Honestly, I don’t even know the opening move. Could you teach me?” 

“Sure,” I answered and quickly cast  _ Reparo _ on the destroyed pieces before resetting the board. “So the Queen’s Gambit is a d4 opening, after which Black responds with d5. White then plays c4, offering up its pawn for sacrifice to the black d5 pawn. Now, the Queen’s Gambit can be played two ways, accepted or declined…” 

We spent the next hour or so on the opening, Edmund practicing and trying to analyze the setup with me giving him pointers on the best and worst moves to make and the ones to watch out for. 

At the end of the hour, I said, “Alright, I think that’s enough chess for one day. Your brain will be completely fried and you’ll forget everything you’ve learnt if we keep going.” 

I expected Edmund to agree, but to my surprise, he pouted instead. 

“Aw, but we were having so much fun!” he whined. “My brain’s fine. Please, Maddie? Can we keep going?” 

I shook my head at him, smirking. 

“Next time,” I told him. “And you have class soon. You should give your brain a rest until then or else you’ll be too exhausted to pay attention.”

“Come on, Maddie,” he pleaded. “It’ll be fun.” 

I froze mid-movement as he said that. My smile rapidly dropped into a frown as a horrifying memory washed over me. 

_“Come on, Maddie,” Thomas whispered in a calm but deadly manner as he pinned me against the wall. His strong hands held my upper arms tightly to prevent me from escaping. “It’ll be fun… I’ll_ _show you some real fun indeed…”_

_ I would never forget the events that unfolded afterwards.  _

_ It would be forever severely burned into my mind.  _

“Maddie? Maddie, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Edmund’s concerned face came into view as the horrific memory faded away. I was staring at him with a wild, scared expression etched upon my face. 

“I have to go,” I said shakily and stood up from the table in a haste. I heard Edmund calling after me but I didn’t turn back. Instead, I broke into a run and didn’t stop until I’d reached my House’s common room door and rushingly knocked the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff on the specific barrel. The lid of the barrel swung open and I ran inside, aiming for the stairs to the dorms. 

“Maddie!” The familiar voices of my sister and Lydia and Saoirse rang out from behind me but once again, I didn’t stop. I heard footsteps thundering behind me, without doubt the three of them, and I burst into our room, heading straight for the bathroom. 

I made it to the toilet just in time and vomited heavily into it. 

I walked out miserably after ten minutes and my three friends were anxiously watching me as I trudged over to my bed and flopped down on it. 

“Maddie…” Camille started and I heard a shuffling of feet. All three made their way slowly towards me, taking a seat on either side of me. My sister wrapped me in a long hug and Saoirse and Lydia gently patted my back as I told them what happened. 

“If I ever meet this fucker (“ _ Lydia! _ ” Camille exclaimed in shock) I’ll hit him right in the face with a Fanged Frisbee,” Lydia muttered through clenched teeth. I took off my glasses and rubbed my face with my hands. 

“God, he probably thinks I’m completely mental,” I cried, referring to Edmund. “As if the whole school already doesn’t think so, I don’t need  _ him _ thinking it either.” 

“He doesn’t,” Saoirse said immediately and joined Camille in wrapping her arms around me. “If he’s a smart, decent bloke he’ll think nothing of the sort about you. Maybe you can talk to him about it? Tell him the truth.”

I looked at her like she was crazy.

“Why the hell would I tell him about my psychotic ex-boyfriend from the depths of hell?? Saoirse, are you insane??? That’s a cry for desperation if I’ve ever heard one!” 

“Alright maybe not like that, but you can at least be honest with him about your feelings.”

I sighed and tears began streaming down my face. 

“I can’t do this,” I choked and my friends all held me tight as I sobbed into their arms. Fortunately, the Hufflepuffs all had a break until dinner so we didn’t have to worry about needing to rush to class. 

Especially with me looking the way I did at the moment. 

“Is there anything we can do?” Camille asked softly. 

“I just wanna sleep,” I told them, just now realizing how tired I was. All I wanted was a good, long sleep to forget about everything that had happened in the last two hours. “Wake me up when it’s dinner time.” The three girls nodded understandingly and walked away from my bed. 

“I’ll get you a Calming Draught from the Hospital Wing,” I heard Camille say to me before exiting the room behind Saoirse and Lydia. “We’ll be in the common room if you wake up early.” I nodded at her as she shut the door behind her. I then pulled my hair out of my high ponytail secured by my favourite red bow scrunchie and laid myself down on my bed. Upon contact with my pillow, I immediately fell into a dreamless, uninterrupted sleep until my sister and friends came to wake me hours later so we could head off to the Great Hall. 

  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Don't forget to review!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Just gonna give a warning that this chapter contains depictions of abuse, so if you're sensitive to this type of content then please don't read! I still hope the chapter is good though, and don't forget to tell me what you think! 
> 
> -cbb

Edmund couldn’t concentrate on his Charms lesson. Professor Flitwick was teaching them the Locking spell,  _ Colloportus _ , but his mind was far away. 

He couldn’t stop puzzling about a certain brunette who had, on that day about a week ago, abruptly run away from him in (fear, it seemed?) and hadn’t talked to him ever since. A Slytherin girl who sat in front of him had her hair in a high ponytail behind her head and a lump formed in Edmund’s throat. The brunette he’d been thinking about had also worn her light-brown hair in that exact same high ponytail that day. 

Except hers had been held up by a bright red bow scrunchie. 

Edmund had often seen her wearing that scrunchie, so he figured it must be her favourite. 

She looked really cute in it, too. 

In fact, Edmund loved all the ways she wore her hair. From headbands to scrunchies to hair clips and flowers, or just simple hairstyles. 

Her creativity never seemed to end. 

He’d noticed that she never wore her hair down, however, unlike her twin sister Camille, whose hair always fell loosely to her shoulders. 

Everything about Maddie Fitzpatrick, the Hufflepuff girl with the square-ish glasses and the always tied-up hair, fascinated him. She was sweet, smart, and definitely not shy of a joke. He loved the way her eyes lit up in excitement over even the littlest things, the way her face showed almost every emotion she was feeling. She always seemed so alive, so willing to learn everything about everything. 

Then his thoughts turned grimly to all of the awful things she’d been through. 

He remembered her crashing into him whilst running out of the Great Hall drenched in what he later found out had been pumpkin juice, way back in October. He’d clearly seen how she’d been on the verge of tears as she spluttered sorries to him. The pain on her face had stung him and he’d been greatly surprised by how friendly she’d been afterwards when Snape had assigned them as partners. 

That had been the first time Edmund noticed how beautiful she really was, despite the remaining tinges of pumpkin juice that stained her robes and hair. 

Next, he thought back to the day he’d found her on the floor, locked up in that room in the dungeon the Gryffindor Quidditch team had messed up with grotesquely modified pictures of her. He burned with anger even now at the memory and he recalled how enraged he had been back then too, so much so that he’d actually stomped his way inside the Gryffindor common room (he’d overheard the password from a pair of careless first-years) and severely questioned his brother on the matter.

It was lucky Peter hadn’t had anything to do with it or else Edmund would’ve never forgiven him. 

But yet on top of all that’s happened to her, she came out stronger than ever. And the most important thing was, she’d never let those events change who she was as a person, which made Edmund’s heart skip a few beats. 

Lastly, his thoughts drifted back to that Sunday last week when they’d talked beside the Bowtruckle tree. He had taken advantage of the beautiful weather that day and gone out for a stroll when he’d heard her voice and spotted her talking to the Bowtruckles. 

Then, he’d accidentally let it slip about Narnia and they’d talked continuously about the magical land, with her listening attentively to every detail he’d described. 

He had been very careful to leave out the part about him betraying his siblings in exchange for - he shuddered - the promise that the Witch would make him a powerful king and that God-awful Turkish Delight. He didn’t want her to think badly of him. Especially as his feelings for her grew stronger every passing hour. 

_ Was that why Maddie had run away from him like that? _ He’d watched as her face twisted with fear after he’d insisted they continue their chess practice. She’d looked like she’d come to a terrible realization. 

Edmund feared the worst.  _ Did she suspect him? Could she tell he was hiding something? Had he accidentally given himself away somehow?  _

He ached with the need to talk to her. He’d seen her in Potions, the only class he had with her, but there was never any time to talk in Snape’s class. Edmund had tried to catch her eye but she hadn’t even looked at him the entire time. They also usually ran into each other in the hallways but he hadn’t seen her then either. It seemed as though she was actively avoiding him. His heart twisted in pain at the thought. 

But he undoubtedly  _ had _ to talk to her. He knew that. He had to find out what was wrong. 

If  _ he  _ had done something wrong. 

The bell rang a few seconds later and Edmund hurriedly packed up his things before practically sprinting to the door. He had Transfiguration next and knew that the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws would be exiting the class right now, so he hoped to be able to catch Maddie and pull her aside to talk. 

He just prayed he wouldn’t be too late. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I pushed past the crowd of Ravenclaws in front of me and walked as fast as I could out of Transfiguration class. To my left, I could see the crowd of Slytherins and Gryffindors rounding the corner, heading for Professor McGonagall’s class, and ducked amongst the other Hufflepuffs of my year, hoping not to be seen. 

After I was out of the hallway, I picked up speed as I headed to our common room, awkwardly clutching my falling textbooks and wand I hadn’t put away in my haste to leave. 

I was never one to run away from my problems, but the flashback I’d had of my asshole of an ex had been too much for me. 

I wasn’t emotionally ready to face that yet. 

I knew what I was doing to Edmund wasn’t fair. But until I found a way to deal with the situation, I couldn’t face him again. Not for a while, at least.

“Maddie! Wait up!” I heard Camille and my friends calling from behind. Once I was sure it was safe, I stopped and let the others catch up to me. 

“Maddie, this is getting ridiculous,” puffed Camille as the three of them stopped alongside me. “You’ll  _ have _ to face him eventually, you know.” 

“I know,” I sighed. “But now’s not the time. Until I figure out this crap with Thomas, it’s best if we don’t interact.” My friends had given up arguing with me on this fact so the four of us remained silent as we made our way up to our dormitory. 

_ “Come on, Maddie. It’ll be fun...” I tried to push him away but his grip on my arms only tightened. It was no use. He was a lot stronger than I was. Resisting was pointless.  _

_ “No,” I whimpered, my voice shaking as tears escaped my eyes. “I don’t want this, let me go _ . _ ” _

_ His face inched closer to mine until our noses touched. Then he smiled an ugly, evil smile and his body shook with deep laughter.  _

_ “You don’t make the decisions around here, love,” he said with a dangerous twinkle in his eyes. “You’d best remember that. Or the consequences won’t be pretty.”  _

_ “Thomas, I said let me  _ go _!” It was moments like this when I deeply despised the “no magic outside of school” rule for underage students. I would’ve ended this mess a  _ long _ time ago.  _

_ Thomas’s face turned frighteningly nasty in that moment.  _

_ “No,” he snarled viciously. “No, I won’t let go. In fact, I’ll never let you go, Maddie. I’ll always be here. You can  _ never _ get rid of me.”  _

_ He shoved me harshly against the wall and I cried out in pain. “Now, be a good girl and do as I say. I’ll show you some real fun indeed…” I took this opportunity to kick him hard in the shins and try to break free. He recoiled briskly with a howl but kept his grip on me.  _

_ “That’s it!” he screeched, saliva flying from his mouth. And with that, he seized both my arms and held them tightly behind my back with one hand while the other grabbed hold of my hair.  _

_ I groaned painfully as he forcefully led me out of the room we were in and into another one a bit further away. Once inside, he pushed me and I fell to the floor on all fours, gasping. I heard the sound of him locking the door behind me and his heavy boots heading to a closet, the only piece of furniture in the room. Moments later, I felt myself being pulled upright by my arm and came face-to-face with Thomas, who was holding a gleaming metallic belt in his right hand. My eyes grew wide in horror.  _

_ “No!” I screamed hysterically and began thrashing around. “Thomas, no, please! No!” _

_ “If you’re not going to behave, you’ll have to be punished.” Still holding me up by my arm, he dragged me over to the rightmost corner of the room.  _

_ “Thomas, please,” I begged him, sobbing uncontrollably. “Please, don’t do this.”  _

_ “SHUT UP!” he roared and I flinched. He grabbed my hair again and spun me around to face him.  _

_ “Let this be a lesson to you the next time you decide to try something funny,” he growled and released my hair as he towered above me.  _

_ “Thomas, please, no…” _

_ He raised the belt high up, the large vein on his forehead bulging madly and his teeth clenching tightly.  _

_ “NO!!”  _

_ My screams rang for what seemed like miles on end, yet we were too far away for anyone to hear me.  _

I woke with a start, covered in sweat and tangled up in my blankets. It was still dark outside, the only source of light being the bright moon, and I checked my watch to see that it was 1:30 in the morning. I held a hand over my racing heart. 

_ It was just a dream _ , I told myself, but I knew that was completely untrue. 

It was a  _ memory _ . 

My hands subconsciously flew to the spots where the belt had struck, my fingers gently running over the bumps of leftover scars and other marks that were left on me. My left hand then drifted to touch the semi-crooked bridge of my nose, which had been broken then. I shivered then got out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. 

Everyone else was still asleep. 

Once inside, I headed over to the sink and splashed my face with some water.  _ Lumos _ illuminated from the tip of my wand, and after wiping the sweat off myself, I took a look in the mirror. 

A blue-eyed, pale face stared back at me. The top of my sleeveless pyjama shirt slightly revealed some of the hidden scars. I stepped closer to the mirror, placed my hands on the edge of the sink, and stared at my reflection. The blue  _ Lumos _ light made my hair appear silvery-white and my rosy lips red in the dark bathroom. I wasn’t wearing my glasses (I never did when I slept) so the dark circles under my eyes were clearly visible. 

_ Why? _ , I said to my reflection without actually opening my mouth.  _ Why do you keep letting him control you like this? He’s not even here. And you’re a witch, for God’s sake, you’re so much more powerful than him. That sick bastard is so not worth you torturing yourself like this.  _

_ So why are putting yourself through this?  _

My reflection just stared blankly back at me. I turned my gaze from the mirror and pushed away from the sink. 

_ Good question _ , I mentally replied to myself before muttering “ _ Nox _ ” to turn off my light. I tiptoed back to my bed and placed myself under the covers, but sleep never came. I lay until morning thinking about nothing and everything at the same time. 

I felt like I knew exactly what it was I had to do. 

I just didn’t have the courage to actually do it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I included Edmund's POV in here as well because I felt it would help build their story a lot more and am going to continue with that, so I hope you guys enjoy!!


	9. Chapter 9

Maddie wasn’t the only one who hadn’t slept that night. 

Edmund tossed and turned continuously in his bed, his mind filled to the brim with thoughts of Maddie and, additionally, of Narnia. Ever since he’d questioned whether Maddie was avoiding him because she suspected something about him, he’d begun having nightmares of the White Witch and his betrayal. 

Like the ones he used to have all those years prior to Hogwarts. 

It was Saturday the next day, and Edmund sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall with his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, his eyes dripping with exhaustion. He felt somebody sliding into the seat next to him and looked up in surprise to see not only one, but two somebodies, Peter and Susan. Susan sat opposite him with her arms crossed on the wooden table and both she and Peter stared pointedly at him, neither one speaking. 

“What?” he finally asked them irritably. 

“Something’s off about you,” Susan replied, narrowing her eyes. 

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re being very… Edmund-y. More than usual, I mean,” spoke Peter. Edmund looked at him in complete confusion. 

“‘ _ Edmund-y _ ’?” he questioned, as if to say “ _ seriously? _ ”.

“What Peter  _ means  _ to say,” Susan said, shooting Peter a glare. “Is that you seem very tense as of late. Almost… troubled. And you’re  _ exhausted _ , how long’s it been since you’ve properly slept?” Edmund’s silence confirmed her guesses. 

“We’re worried, Ed,” continued Susan, her voice softening. “Is something bothering you?”

“Everything’s fine,” Edmund muttered, keeping his gaze on his open textbook in front of him. 

After a long silence, Peter’s voice was heard. “There’s a girl.” 

A knot formed in Ed’s stomach. He unwillingly flinched a bit, which did not go unnoticed by his siblings. 

“What are you on about?” He tried his best to sound casual, but his voice shook a little and he still refused to look at his siblings. Peter and Susan exchanged looks and smirked. 

“Someone from your house?” Peter asked amusingly. 

“Shut up.” 

“Or from another house? Have you spoken to her? How many classes do you have together?” Susand fired each question within a millisecond of one another. 

“You’re mental.  _ Both _ of you. Leave me alone, I need to work.” 

“Is she on the Slytherin Quidditch team?” Peter pressed, ignoring his brother. “There’s Arianna Everest, the captain. Or is it Jillian O’Hare, the Keeper? Oh, I know! It’s Brielle Thimbleton, the Beater!” 

Edmund rubbed his eyes with his hands, sighing deeply with impatience. 

“Will you just drop it? There’s no girl, there’s no nobody.” 

Unfortunately for Edmund, Lucy bounded in a second later. 

“ _ There _ you are! I’ve searched the whole castle for you all!” their youngest sibling complained with a pout. Her pout then turned to a frown. 

“What’s going on? Are you having a family meeting without me?” 

“Edmund’s in  _ love _ ,” singsonged Peter with a laugh, earning himself an elbow in the ribs by his younger brother. 

“He is? Is it with that girl, Maddie Fitzpatrick?” 

Edmund’s body jerked slightly then turned to ice. His heart stopped.  _ How did Lucy know? And what did she know about love anyway? She was only 12.  _

_ Love. _ The word bore a sweet taste in Edmund’s mouth. Especially as he thought of Maddie, with her red scrunchie, her soothing voice that bore no judgement, her fierce blue eyes that trapped and pulled him in every time he found himself gazing into them…

“Maddie Fitzpatrick?” Peter’s voice broke through Edmund’s reverie. “From the Hufflepuff Quidditch team? The one that my team attacked?” 

“Fitzpatrick?” Susan questioned right after. “As in Camille Fitzpatrick’s sister, Madeleine? The new Hogwarts wizard’s chess champion who apparently  _ destroyed _ the former champion Pietro Vexmoor in a match a few weeks ago?”

Edmund didn’t answer; his ears turned pink.

“Well, I’ve seen her and Edmund talking outside the Hufflepuff common room several times,” Lucy continued. Edmund scowled at her and gritted his teeth as if to say  _ shut up, NOW _ . 

“And I’ve seen them in here once, too, just last week. She was teaching him tactics in wizard’s chess.”

“I witnessed her match with Vexmoor,” Edmund jumped in quickly. “I asked her if she could help me improve my game.” 

“She seems a bit sad though, as of late.” Edmund’s ears perked at the words that had come out of Lucy’s mouth and his attention grew to a maximum, though he struggled not to show it. 

“What do you mean?” It was Peter who had spoken. 

“I’m not really sure,” the youngest Pevensie replied. “I’ve just seen her around a couple of times - she spends a lot of time in the common room with her friends and her twin sister - and it seems like her mood is much… darker. I could be wrong, however, maybe it’s just school stress.” 

Edmund didn’t pay attention to that last part. The only words that stuck to his brain were “sad” and “as of late” and “mood” and “darker”. 

He anxiously waited for Lucy to say more but she didn’t. Instead, the Pevensie siblings resumed their teasing about their brother liking Maddie until Edmund got fed up and left to go study in the Slytherin common room. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I splashed my face with ice-cold water after I’d finished rinsing my hands of soap. I hoped it would hide the extreme tiredness that was clearly visible on my face. Although, after glancing in the mirror, I could see it had barely done anything. 

I sighed deeply as I dried my hands and fixed my crooked red headband with white criss-crossed lines. 

A voice echoed behind me in the deserted girls’ bathroom, a tinkling sound like the squeak of a mouse. 

“Why are you sighing like that?” I could see Moaning Myrtle hovering in midair behind me in the mirror, her arms crossed and a smirk etched on her face. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My hands had moved to my light-brown braids now, tightening and retying them with differently coloured hair elastics. 

“Is it a  _ boy _ ?” She chuckled and flew closer to me. “Are you having  _ boy troubles, _ Mary Ellen?”

“It’s  _ Madeleine _ ,” I sniffed, not daring to look at the deceased girl. 

“Boys are a rotten lot,” Myrtle chimed. She was now bobbing right beside me. “Why would you trouble yourself with them?”

“Myrtle, leave me alone, won’t you? I don’t have time for this right now,” I whined as I picked up my school bag and made for the bathroom door. 

“Oh, Mary Ellen?” 

I rolled my eyes and turned back around to face her, my hand on the door handle. 

“Congratulations on finally beating that awful boy Pietro Vexmoor. It’s about time someone wiped that smug smile off his arrogant face.” 

I smiled at her and nodded. 

“Thanks Myrtle,” I said to the floating girl before exiting the bathroom. Weirdly enough, Myrtle’s compliment had left me feeling a little happier than I’d been when I’d entered the bathroom. 

I mean, any compliment is a compliment, right ?

“Maddie?”

The blood drained from my face and I stopped abruptly at the sound of the voice that came from several feet behind me. There was no mistaking the voice. 

Without turning, I inched my right foot forward a tiny bit before the voice called my name again, this time louder and more clearly. 

I gave up and finally twisted around. 

“Hi, Edmund.” 

He stared at me from a distance before hesitantly making his way over to me. My knees felt weak as his chocolate-coloured eyes locked onto mine. I struggled greatly to keep my balance, as if to keep myself from falling right into them. 

_ God, I hated my feelings sometimes.  _

None of us said anything to each other for a few minutes. He was clutching a book in his left hand which I discovered to be his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. 

“Um… where are off to?” I asked as casually as I could. I swayed back and forth, drumming my fingers against the strap of my bag uncomfortably. 

“Uh, just the Slytherin common room,” he answered. 

“Cool. Me too.” Then I did a double take. “Uh, I meant not the  _ Slytherin _ common room, but the Hufflepuff - oh, you know what I mean.” I corrected myself upon seeing the confused expression on his face. 

He gave me a tiny smile to show he did know what I meant. 

“Well, I’ll just get going then, my sister’s expecting me and you know how she gets when - ”

“We need to talk.” His voice was as clear as the Black Lake at this time of the year. 

_ Shit _ , I cringed internally. I knew this was going to happen eventually. But it was too soon. I didn’t want it to happen. Not now. Not yet. 

“Edmund - ” 

“Did I do something?” he interrupted, but his voice wasn’t accusatory. Instead it sounded… hurt. “Maddie, if I did something to make you avoid me, then please tell me. I want to fix what I did wrong.” I was about to speak but he cut me off again. 

“I miss us talking. Us spending time together. Our friendship.” 

_ Jesus, did this boy have a talent for sending hearts speeding at 100 miles per second. _

“Edmund, you didn’t do anything wrong.” My voice involuntarily cracked up a little at the end. “It’s just - I didn’t - I just  _ can’t _ \- ”

“Can’t what? Maddie, what’s going on?” 

I forced myself to look up at him, my eyes shining. 

“Edmund, I’m not who you think I am,” I whispered as the tears flowed down my cheeks. I was aware of how dangerously close his face was to mine. 

How close his lips were to mine. 

And it was the absolute worst kind of torture to resist them. 

Worse than any kind of abuse Thomas had ever inflicted upon me. 

Edmund reached out and wiped a tear off my cheek. Fireworks ignited within me at his touch. 

“What are you talking about?”

“And - ” I continued, hiccuping with sobs. “And I don’t think you are either.” 

I fled before I could even see his reaction. 

I fled with my hand clutched to my cheek, in the spot that burned where Edmund had touched me. 

I fled just as I had that day in the Great Hall. 

Except this time, 

Edmund didn’t call after me. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Don't forget to please review!


	10. Chapter 10

I burst into the Hufflepuff common room where Camille, Lydia, and Saoirse were. They were at their usual spot at the study table, and I also registered the figures of two other younger Hufflepuffs sitting further away on the bee-patterned couches. 

My sister and two friends whirled around at my arrival. 

“Maddie?” they said in unison and rushed over to me. 

I’d already been crying but I fully burst into tears now as they crowded around me. I tried to tell them what had happened but I couldn’t even get two syllables out before the next wave of sobs hit me. They quickly led me to our dorm room, where they sat consoling and hugging me while I cried incessantly for the next twenty minutes. 

When I finally calmed down a bit, I told them the whole story. My deep feelings for Edmund, our interactions, and my newfound constant nightmares about Thomas all came pouring out of me. I was very careful, though, to leave out everything Edmund had told me about Narnia because I’d promised him. 

“Maddie,” Lydia started, breaking the silence that had risen after I’d finished. “Look… it’s very evident that Edmund feels as strongly about you as you do about him. Maybe even more. But you  _ need _ to talk to him. Tell him what you’ve been through. If he really, truly does love you, he won’t judge you for it and instead will support you and respect your needs.” 

“But - ” I paused for a bit because I had to be  _ incredibly _ cautious about how I asked this. “But... what if  _ he’s _ hiding something as well ?” 

I almost whispered that last part. 

“You know,” I quickly added upon seeing their half-questioning, half-suspicious faces. “Like how Thomas put on that charmer’s facade of his to make me fall for him before revealing his true, evil self behind closed doors. I never even  _ suspected _ anything was wrong with him, that’s how well he played his cards. I… I know I’m being paranoid but I can’t help it. After a stunt like that, I don’t know  _ who _ to trust anymore.” 

Silence fell again as the three girls nodded and looked around thoughtfully. I hiccuped and sniffled for a little while longer until Camille broke the silence this time. 

“I know that what you went through with Thomas was unimaginable, Mads,” she said slowly. “And I know you’ll have scars for life because of it. He hurt you in a demonic and unforgivable way. However,” she cupped my hands in hers as she said this, “I’m going to repeat what I’ve told you before. Not every boy you fall in love with is going to be like that. What happened with Thomas was a one in a _ hundred million _ chance. And… this probably sounds really stupid and I can’t explain why, but I don’t at  _ all  _ think you’re going to have anything bad happen with Edmund if you get together. I don’t know, just by looking at him I have a feeling that he truly is the one for you.” 

“I feel the same way,” added Saoirse with a smile. 

“Me too,” Lydia piped in. 

I sniffed and brushed away two more tears. 

“So… what should I do?” 

“I think Lydia and Camille had it right the first time.” It was Saoirse who answered. “Talk to him. Tell him what you’ve been through. See how he reacts. I know it’s not at  _ all  _ what you want, but the poor bloke has to understand, too. He always looks absolutely  _ devastated _ when you ignore him. I think he deserves a chance, deserves to know what’s going on with you.” Glancing at Lydia and Camille, I could tell they wholeheartedly agreed with what Saoirse said. 

“And if he reacts badly and never wants anything to do with me again?”

“Then he can hand himself over to the squid in the Black Lake. Or I’ll do it myself,” Lydia answered, earning a glare and a nudge from the other two. “What? It’s true.”

“ _ If _ that does happen,” spoke Camille, after rolling her eyes. “Then he’s definitely not the one and you  _ also _ don’t need to have anything to do with him ever again. But it won’t. I  _ promise, _ I trust with all my heart that you guys are going to be alright in the end.”

Looking at all three of them, the tears escaped me once more and I wrapped them all in a bear-crushing hug. 

“You guys are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I sob-laughed. “I can’t imagine my life without any of you.” They repeated the same to me and reciprocated my bear hug. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, I stood fidgeting by the entrance to the Great Hall. I had finally decided that I would talk to Edmund in private after lunch time had ended. I was wholly trembling with anxiety and felt too sick to eat, hence why I was out here. I’d spent the entire night and morning mentally rehearsing exactly what I was going to say to him and began doing it again now in order to calm my humming heart. 

When the lunch bell finally rang - startling the bejeezus out of my extremely stressed self - my eyes scanned the outgoing crowd like a hawk trying to find him. It was harder to do so since we weren’t in uniforms today, but I spotted his head bobbing amongst the crowd after a few minutes. He started towards the dungeons and I hurried over to him to tap him on the shoulder. His pupils dilated in confusion upon seeing me and before he could say anything, I nervously muttered, “Can we talk? Please?” 

The “please” had come out like the squeak of a mouse but Edmund nodded and I led him over to a deserted hallway. 

“Maddie - ”

“Can I talk first, please?” I said. “I just… I have a lot to tell you and, um… and I think it’s only fair I give you an explanation as to why I’ve… why I’ve been acting the way I have.” 

As I launched into the details of my history with Thomas, Edmund listened attentively, nodding in understanding and not interrupting me once. I saw him flinch slightly when I mentioned my abuse but he still didn’t make a sound until I was done. 

We both stayed silent for a while, processing everything, before I felt his arms wrap around me in such a way as though they never intended to let go again. I felt myself relaxing deeply and hugged him back, burying my face in the crook of his neck. I didn’t know how long we remained that way but I cherished every second. He ran a hand gently through my hair, whispering “I’m so, so sorry” over and over again. 

I was disappointed when he finally let go and he looked at me in both deep sadness and deep anger. 

“I kill him,” he said dangerously between clenched teeth. “I’ll track him down and I’ll  _ kill _ him, the  _ bastard  _ \- ”

“It’s okay, it’s okay, calm down. I don’t even know where he is now, anyways, and I don’t care either. I’m here with you now.”

His face softened at my words and I ran my thumb over his hands, which were intertwined with mine. But he still looked troubled to me. 

“Everything okay?” I asked him. He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he looked down. 

“I, um… I have something to tell you too.” He still didn’t look at me. “You’ve… you’ve been honest with me, so it’s only fair I do the same.” 

“What do you mean?” 

When he finally looked back up at me, I could see shame and embarrassment in his eyes. 

“I haven’t… been entirely truthful about what happened in Narnia. About what I  _ did _ . I… I just thought you’d never look at me the same way again.” 

I furrowed my eyebrows and before I could ask what he was talking about, he began telling me about how the White Witch had made him a false promise, leading him to betray his siblings when they first went to Narnia. I listened as attentively as he had to me as he went on to tell me about how long it had taken the Narnians to forgive him, having still been referred to by a great many as the “Traitor King'' for up to years after. I winced in understanding as I reflected on my own misfortunes at Hogwarts. But at least I knew now what he’d been hiding, and didn’t judge him one bit for it. 

“It didn’t matter who you were then,” I told him. “It only matters who you are now.” 

And with that, his lips pressed themselves against mine and I gave in, kissing him back with all I had in me. 

“No more secrets?” he stopped to say.

“No more secrets,” I echoed before we resumed kissing. 

Our little makeout session had now heated up quite a bit as we both fought for dominance. It was truly magical. This was all I’d ever wanted for a really long time now. 

“We’re in the middle of the hallway,” I laughed, breaking away. “We might get interrupted if someone comes by.” 

“So what do you propose we do?” 

I smirked slyly. 

“I know somewhere a little more private we can go.” Grabbing his hand, I led the way a little further down the hallway towards a nearby broom closet. 

“Nice,” Edmund said with an excited smirk. I turned to him, wiggling my eyebrows. 

“Shall we?”

Instead of answering, he dove for my lips again and I mirrored him, fumbling for the door handle. 

I threw the door open… and saw Beth, the other Hufflepuff girl Chaser, heavily snogging whom I recognized as Hazel Spade, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers. They both gasped and jumped upon seeing us and Beth stared at me with bulging eyes. 

“I - I, um,” she stammered, her eyes racing across mine, “I’m not… we’re not.. uh… th - this was a dare! I, um… a - and Heather Fairmist was dared to snog Irene Spade, her sister…” She pointed at Hazel before grabbing the other girl’s hand and rushing out of the broom closet in embarrassment. Edmund and I just stood there gaping at them until they’d disappeared from the hallway. 

Then, I slowly turned towards him and we both burst into hysterical laughter at the hilarity of what had just occurred. I’d never known Beth had a romantic interest, this was the first time I’d ever seen her with anybody. 

We laughed for a while before eventually coming back to the present. 

“Now,” Edmund said. “Where were we?”

I giggled in reply. 

“I think I know.”

Edmund matched my grin as the both of us stepped inside the closet. 

And we closed the door behind us. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: THE END!! I hope everyone enjoyed, and thank you all so much once again for reading!!!


End file.
